Bloodstains and Black Pearls: Story of a Murderer

Chapter One: The Mansion

   I woke up from my dream, at least I thought it was a dream until I felt a burning sensation in my left arm. I opened my eyes to a dusty room and a figure towering over me. I was laying on a bed with a mattress that made my back aque.  I could tell that the figure, that I now identified as a woman, was tending to whatever was making my arm feel like it was going to disconnect from my body.

   I try to lift my head but it feels as if it were a boulder, so I let it fall back onto the pillow. Dust swirls in the air in my parifrial vision and I question myself on how old the bed is. Much less the house I'm in. A second time sucsessful and so I glance at my arm. Deep, long, and wide gashes filled it. My stomach churns and I feel a dizzyness fill my head. I shudder.

   "Don't like blood either?" the woman attending my arm said. Her brown eyes met my bright blue ones. I nodded. She smirked and hid her eyes back behind her dirty blonde hair. "Join the club, kid." she said, then returned to my gashes.

   I scanned the room and saw old, rustic couches and chairs. The wooden floor was chipping along with the paint on the walls, and one huge window with shattered glass. The view looked out into a forest, I couldn't see very far into it because of the overgrown branches. Judging by the size of the room, it could be the master bedroom to the house I'm in. I jerked and let out a sharp breath when the woman tugged on the wrap she was putting around my arm.

   "Sorry," she said. "I'm trying to keep it from bleeding again." Once again her eyes scanned mine. There was kindness in her dark eyes, they were soft, gentle.

   "What's your name?" I ask. "And why are you helping me?" My question seemed to startle her because I felt her jump.

   A moment passed and it seemed like forever. "I'm Bree." she finally said, then swallowed and took a deep breath. Bree walked over to a small dresser a few feet away. "Your name?" she asks, hiding once again behind her long hair. It had a glow to it in the light of the window on the other side of the room.

   "Ethan." I say. "You didn't answer my other question." Even though there were many other questions like: "Where am I?" or "What happened to my arm?" I wanted to know why she was even helping me in the first place. Where did she find me? Did she find me? What was happening to me? Is this a dream? I don't know.

   No expression showed on her face, only thought. I wonder what she was thinking. "He saw something in you." she said. He? Who was "he"?

   "Who's 'he'?" I said aloud. Bree's eyes flickered from things around the room. The couches, the chairs, outside the window and the shattered glass on the floor. Now I could tell that the expression she wore was fear. "Bree," I said. "Who's 'he'?" I repeat slowly.

   She takes a deep breath and lowers her guard. "Jeff." she says. "Jeff is a murderer and he will kill anything that moves. But it was different with you. He cut you up pretty bad, and that's what happened to your arm, but then he stopped. I've never seen him look at anyone in awe before. You were fighting against him, not willing to die. He told me to bring you back to the mansion and clean you up. I don't know what he has in store for you, but he sees a lot in you for some strange reason." She lowered her head. I'm guessing in thought, or confusion, I can't tell. "It just doesn't add up." Bree tapped her fingers on the small table beside her.

   "Why would he spare me?" I thought. Then a voice called from across the room.

   "Because he saw potential in you." a woman with long blue hair and smeared makeup walked through a door to my right. The black lines running down her face made it look like she was crying. Was she? "That's why he would spare you Ethan."

   "How did you-" I began to say before Bree cut me off.

   "She can read thoughts and manipulate them, even communicate. That's her power." she said.

   "Power?" I say. "How can human have power? It doesn't seem right, like the natural balance is off or something."

   "But I'm not human." the woman says. Fear fills my mind. Not human? What the hell, she looks human, she acts human, she walks like a human. How is she not human? "I'm not human because I'm a killer. I murder my own kind, that's not human. I'm not human because I take the souls of the innocent. Now tell me kid, is that human to you?" She seemed calm. Why is she so calm about killing people? I don't get it.

   "Where am I?" I finally say after a long line of patience. I'm about to snap. "Tell me what I'm doing here, why does Jeff want me?" My blood boils, hate fills me, I feel like I'm about to choke her.

   She smiles. "Your here for the reason that your behaving right now. That hate. That anger built up inside of you. Jeff wants that." She walks toward me and her shoes make thuds and cracks on the brittle floor. "He wants you."

   My mind jolts for an escape. I can't do this, I can't kill like he does! It's crazy, insane! No! I look at the window and run. No ones chasing me, why? Wood and glass crumple under my feet and I feel it through the bottoms of my shoes. I stop when I get to the window and look back, they're just standing there, looking at me. The woman with blue hair smiling and Bree with a blank expression. I look down and see the ground below me, I guess that I'm on the second story. That's not too far to jump so I do it. Wind flows through my black hair as I fall at a high speed.

   I feel like I'm in the air forever and forget to brace myself for the fall. My arms wobbly above me, the left one stinging and hurting, and my legs unstable below. I hit the ground and shocks of impact fill my legs and body. I landed on my feet at first then landed on my face in the grass below. I screamed because I landed on my arm and tore off some of the bandaging, thick red came pouring out of the gashes. I gag and stand back up of my two, wobbly legs. I'm still suffering from the impact.

   The forest is bigger than the view I had out the window. Tall, slender trees stretched out so far and wide that I couldn't see anything else but trees and mist. Then, a tall, black figure appears out of the mist and starts toward me. As his figure became more visible, I could see that he had no facial features and he was pale white. He wore a black suit and was taller than any other man I have ever seen. I've heard of the legends but I never thought of them true. I don't know if I am dreaming or not, but if I am, I really hope I wake up soon.